Satzinger 11th Conference of Nubian Studies; Warsaw, 27 August - 2 September 2006 Page 1

The Nubian Language / Dialect Group Desasters: • Mahdist wars, 1880s • The First Civil War 1965-72, • The Second Civil War, 1983 to present, Darfûr Conflict, from 2001/2002/2003 onwards. • 1983/1984 a horrid famine, with nearly 100,000 Darfûris left dead • Aswân Dam, after 1900 • High Dam, after 1960 It is hard to tell what is the present situation of all those tiny groups of speakers of various languages in the area: extinction, deplacement, decimation, enslavement. The pre-war situation was like this: Hill Nubian G h u l f â n : 16,000 speakers (1984 R. C. Stevenson). Northern , K o r d o f a n , in two hill ranges 25 to 30 miles south of Dilling: Ghulfan Kurgul and Ghulfan Morung. K a d a r u : 12,360 speakers (2000 “WCD”). Northern Sudan, K o r d o f a n Province, Nuba mountains, Kadaru Hills between Dilling and Delami. D i l l i n g : 5,295 speakers (1984 R. C. Stevenson). Northern Sudan, Southern K o r d o f a n , town of Dilling and surrounding hills, including Kudr. D â i r : 1,000 speakers (1978 “GR”). Northern Sudan, west and south parts of Jebel Dair, K o r d o f a n . E l - H u g e i r â t : 200 speakers (2000 Brenzinger). Northern Sudan, West K o r d o f a n on El Hugeirat Hills. K a r k o : 12,986 speakers (1984 R. C. Stevenson). Northern Sudan, K o r d o f a n , in Karko Hills 20 miles west of Dilling, including Dulman. May also be spoken on Abu Jinik to the west (1,000) and El Tabaq southwest of Katla (800). W â l i : 487 speakers (1977 Voegelin and Voegelin). Northern Sudan, in the Wali Hills, K o r d o f a n , south of Karko Hills. M e i d o b : 50,000 speakers (1993 R. Werner). Northern Sudan, D â r F û r Province, Jebel Midob, and settled communities in Omdurman and Gezira Aba. The center is Malha. B i r k e d : extinct. Northern Sudan, north D â r F û r , north and east of Daju and Baygo, east of Jebel Marra between Jebel Harayt and the Rizaykat (Arab) country. Also north of Nyala. A few in north Kordofan south of El Obeid.

Valley Nubian (The situation before the 1960s): K e n z i or K e n û z i (Kunûzi): From Aswân to Wâdi el-Sebû‘ (north of Egyptian ) N o b i i n , a new term to comprise Fadicca, Fiyadikka in the South of Egyptian Nubia Mahâs (Mahâsi) in the North of Sudanese Nubia, near 2nd Cataract D o n g o l â w i (Dunqulâwi), south of Mahâsi, area Satzinger 11th Conference of Nubian Studies; Warsaw, 27 August - 2 September 2006 Page 2

Linguistic Classification Controversal. Thelwall:

(Indicating the percentage of common vocabulary.)

Ethnolog:

N u b i a n Northern Central Western Nobiin †Birked Kenûzi-Dongolâwi Hill Nubian (Kordofan) Meidob (Darfûr) Kadaru-Ghulfan Unclassified (Darfûr) Dongolâwi Ghulfân Dilling Nobiin Lexical Lexical similarity 67% Kadaru Lexical Lexical similarity 60% with Nobiin, 56% with similarity 94% similarity 51% Lexical similarity with Kadaru; Debri (=Dilling). Lexical similarity with Debri, with Birgid 67% with Kenûzi- 51% with 93% with Dilling, 93% with (closest). Dongolâwi. Meidob Kenûzi 92% to 87% with Kadaru. (closest). Debri, 60% with Birked. Dâir, El- Hugeirât, Karko, Wâli Satzinger 11th Conference of Nubian Studies; Warsaw, 27 August - 2 September 2006 Page 3

Nubian – a Nilo-Saharan Language RUHLEN: 3 Nilo-Saharan I Songhai (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger) II Saharan Kanuri, Kanembu; Tubu (Niger, Chad, Nigeria, Sudan) III Maban (mainly Chad) IV Fur (Chad, Sudan) V Eastern Sudanic A Eastern 1 Nubian: (Sudan, Egypt) Western: Meidob Central: Birgid, Debri, Dongolawi [+ Kunûzi] Northern: Mahas [+Fadidja=Nobiin], [† O l d N u b i a n ] 2 Surmic: … Mursi (Sudan, Ethiopia) 3 Nara: … (Eritrea) 4 Eastern Jebel: … (Sudan) B Western (Sudan) C Nilotic (Sudan) 1 Western a i Shilluk, …; b i Nuer; bii Dinka 2 Eastern Maasai; Turkana, … 3 Southern Kalenjin, … VI Central Sudanic Kresh; Bongo; Bagirmi; Logbara; Mangbetu … (mainly Dem. Rep. Congo, Central African Rep., Uganda, Sudan, ) VII Berta (Ethiopia) VIII Kunama (Eritrea) IX Komuz (Ethiopia, Sudan) Satzinger 11th Conference of Nubian Studies; Warsaw, 27 August - 2 September 2006 Page 4

Nilo-Saharan Languages

Typological characteristics: SOV: eit-il sak-ka pes-na man (nom.) word (acc.) says “The man says the word” genitival nouns preceding; postpositions: mare’ot-inµ kisse-la Marotis-of church-in “in the church of Mareote” no noun classes, no grammatical gender (exception: W. Nilotic), but numerous case forms; etc.

Lexicon: no great resemblances. For example: numbers 1–10 in various Nubian idioms and in some other NS languages.1

Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Eastern, Nubian, Central: †Birgid meirtu ullu tizzit keimzi tishi korshi koldi ittu ijmoldi timmur (Dar Fur) Dongolawi wera on-u toshk-u kams-u dig-u gurg-u ko:lla-du i-du isko-du dimini Jebel Dair tísu,å kuárs‚ uå kualád,‚ ber óra toµ_dunå ≥ kén\ uå édu u u buµré (Kordof.)2 dísuå (kérsu)å kualát‚ wíd, wít Debri (Dilling; ber orro toJJi keñu ticcu kwarcu kwalada eddu weddu bre Kordof.) Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Eastern, Nubian, Northern: †Old ouer- ouo- tousko- kemso- dij- gode- kolot- idouei askotta- dimed- Nubian Mahas waira out-wo tou'sko kemso dige'a gorge'o koloda id-wo oskoda dimé (Nobiin) Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Eastern, Nubian, Western: Meidob parc eddi tasi eeji téccí kórci ólotti ídi úkkúdí tmmiji (Dar Fur) Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Eastern, Surmic, South, Southeast, Pastoral, Suri: Mursi d`ò:nè ràmàn thìzzì uwì há:nán ìllè ìtha:bài iththè thàkàl tomon (SSud.) Murle codoi ram iyu wec tuur torkonom torgerem turge torkoc amoto (SSud.) Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Eastern, Surmic, North, Majang

Majang om-ong pee jii angan tuul tuula?om tuulapee tuulajiit tuulangan bapif Nilo-Saharan, Unclassified: Shabo (Shako, "Mekeyer", "Mikeyir", "Mikair") Shabo ingki bap jiita angan tuul tulu tulikakingki tunajiita tulaangan bapif (Eth.) Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Eastern, Surmic, South, Southwest, Kacipo-Balesi: Bale(si) Bale óód`e: rámmá íyyó wé túr to:rkóno: tu:rgére: tu:rge: tórgógo: o:mo:dhó Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Eastern, Surmic, South, Southeast: Kwegu kium d`aa jien ahur cun la ts'oba lonkai sal tomon (Eth.)

1 http://www.zompist.com/numbers.shtml. 2 Junker, H. – Czermak, W.: Kordofân-Texte im Dialekt von Gebel Dair. Sb KAW Wien, ph.-h.-Kl. 174/3, Wien 1913. Satzinger 11th Conference of Nubian Studies; Warsaw, 27 August - 2 September 2006 Page 5

Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Nilotic, Western Shilluk ákyèl áryùu ádèk ángwèn ábîch ábîkyèl áîbryùu âbîdèk ábîngwèn pyà:rò Nuer kel reu dyok nguan dhyec bakel baro badak bangwan wal Dinka tok ru dyak 'nguan wdyech wdetem wderóu bêt wde-nguan wtyer Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Nilotic, Eastern Maasai oopi- (Kenya, obo aare okuni oonguan imiet Ile isiet oondo tomon shana Tans.) nga- Turkana nga- nga- nga- a-pey` nga-arey` nga-uni` nga-omwon` nga-ka:ni kanÌ- nga-tòmon (Kenya) kanÌ-ka-arey kanÌ-ka-uni kanÌ-ka-omwon ka-pey Nilo-Saharan, Central Sudanic, West, Bongo-Bagirmi Bongo kootu ngori mta heu mi do-kotu do-ngor do-mta do-heu kii Nilo-Saharan, Saharan, Western: Kanuri tilo ndi yakke dege uwu araske tulur wusku legar mewu (Niger) Nilo-Saharan, Songhai, Western: Songhai fo hinka hinja taaci gu iddu iyye yaaha yagga woy (Mali, ...)

Nubian preserved Egyptian words in the vocalization of the New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1075 B.C.)

New Kingdom Late Period Coptic Old Nubian Later 2nd mill. Mid-1st mill. From 3rd cent. AD From 6th cent. AD irp “wine” *’ûräp *’êrëp hrpQ ’êrëp orp(a)- orp(a)- nb(w) “gold” *nâb(ë?) *nôb noub nûb ©ape ˜ap

Loaned directly from Egyptian – in the 2nd millennium BC ? Or via Meroitic ?